On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities announced that an extra border crossing will be opened between Ukraine and Poland on Monday specifically for empty freight trucks. This will help alleviate the current issue in Kyiv where several crossings have been obstructed due to ongoing protests by Polish drivers.

The demonstrations, sparked by Polish truck drivers’ belief in unjust competition from their Ukrainian counterparts, began on November 6 and have resulted in four border crossings being blocked. The main request of Polish haulers is to prohibit Ukrainian truckers from entering the EU without a permit, a request that Kyiv and Brussels claim is not feasible.

The Ukrainian border service announced that the Uhryniv checkpoint, which currently only allows passenger cars and buses, will now also be open for empty heavy vehicles weighing more than 7.5 metric tons starting at 1 a.m. (midnight GMT) on Monday.

The border service stated that the opening of Uhryniv is the initial step taken to alleviate border blockages, decrease wait times, and enhance the capacity of the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Ukraine said last week it had agreed to some measures with Poland that could ease the pressure at the blockaded border crossings, but that they had not discussed the main demands of the protests; that Ukrainian truckers be required to have entry permits for transport to EU countries. That permit rule was waived for Ukrainian truck drivers after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.